Two hand touch or flag football? I’m going to have to go with two hand touch.

Tecmo Super Bowl is still the best football videogame ever made. Madden can’t touch that. Electric Football would be a close second except it’s not a videogame and those little bastards never run straight ahead.

Brats or nachos? I’m going to have to go with brats, but I’m surprised how close it was.

The Browns helmets are actually orange. Weird. I like it.

With the NFL focusing on the entertainment side of things and trying to getting more people to watch their product, it’s bizarre that they don’t allow a couple players celebrating a TD in the endzone. No Fun League indeed! What’s wrong with 4 WR’s congratulating each other in the endzone for 10 seconds??

1. New Orleans Saints – THE GOOD – Same as last week, pretty much everything at this point. The defense still gives up points, but the offense once again is out running it. THE BAD – Still question marks about the defense and this team playing in cold weather stadiums later in the season. Brees had 3 INT’s against the Dolphins, which could be a sign that teams are starting to see how to defend the Saints passing attack. CONTENDER? Oh yes.

2. Indianapolis Colts – THE GOOD – Same as last week, pretty much everything, although the defense has some question marks. THE BAD – Once again, A LOT rides on Peyton Manning, if he plays poorly or even at a level below what’s he currently playing at this team will probably lose, especially to the better teams in the league. CONTENDER? Yep.

3. Minnesota Vikings – THE GOOD – The Vikes actually leap frog over the Steelers, even though they lost to them. Why? They outplayed, outcoached and outgained the Steelers at Heinz Field. If not for a couple bad breaks they win that game. Favre is looking good, defense is looking tough. THE BAD – Secondary still has some big question marks, the Vikes run defense got gashed by the Steelers running game for a lot of 10+ yard runs. CONTENDER? Yep.

4. Pittsburgh Steelers – THE GOOD – The Steelers are still ranked high in most offensive and defensive categories. The Steelers showed against the Vikes that they’ll be very hard to run against. The offense is loaded with talent. THE BAD – Defense still hasn’t been as dominant as last year, even with their 2 TD’s against the Vikes, they allowed almost 400 yards of offense at home. Secondary needs to play better in pass coverage. Coaching staff is suspect at times. CONTENDER? Yep.

5. Denver Broncos – THE GOOD – With their bye, same as last week, coaching staff is doing a great job (so far), D-line is looking like one of the best in the league, which will do wonders for the rest of the defense. THE BAD – Bronco’s offense gets the job done, but barely. It sure doesn’t scare anyone. CONTENDER? Probably, but get back to me in a few weeks after they’ve played the Ravens, Steelers and Chargers.

6. New England Patriots – THE GOOD – The offense is gelling, the defense is looking better and better. THE BAD – With two dominating wins over teams in disarray (Titans, Bucs) it’s easy to get real high on this team right now. Still question marks about the defense and running game. CONTENDER? It’s looking like it, but we’ll see once they start playing better competition. Nov. 15 in Indy looks like a good start.

7. Arizona Cardinals – THE GOOD – The Cards shoot up out of nowhere to the #7 spot with their impressive win over the Giants in NY. The Cardinals defense is playing better. Offense can be dangerous. THE BAD – Defense still has some big question marks. Kurt Warner is starting to show his age. Offense has the worst pass to run ratio in the NFL, which is usually never a good thing. CONTENDER? Doubtful, this team could easily drop out of the rankings. Of course that was the case last year as well and looked what happened.

8. New York Giants – THE GOOD – The Giants can still run the ball, D-line still has some ferocious pass rushers. THE BAD – Eli Manning seems to struggle more often than not when the weight of the offense is put on him. Secondary is starting to look very shaky. CONTENDER? Looked like it a couple weeks ago, now not so sure.

9. Cincinnati Bengals – THE GOOD – One of Cincy’s more impressive wins in recent memory this past weekend against the Bears. Believe or not but the Bengals have the leading rusher right now (Cedric Benson), defense is better than it’s been in years. Carson Palmer has been solid leading a safer, more ball-control offense. THE BAD – Just how good is their defense? It’s only ranked 20th in yards and near the bottom against the pass. Offense doesn’t put up a ton of points. CONTENDER? Probably not.

10. Green Bay Packers – THE GOOD – Aaron Rodgers continues to play at an elite level. Defense continues to improve with aggressive new 3-4 defensive scheme, currently ranked 3rd in yards allowed. THE BAD – O-line still has question marks in pass protection and run blocking. Run defense still needs a little bit more improvement. CONTENDER? Could be, we’ll have a better idea next week against the Vikes in a huge divisional game.

Ron Winters and his officiating crew is probably still the worst crew in the NFL with a number of questionable calls in the Vikings-Steelers game. “Defensive delay of game”? What the hell is that?

The Falcons defense isn’t very good. Could cost the Falcons a playoff spot or a playoff loss.

Carolina is definitely not making the playoffs this year. Get ready to hear about a possible coaching change in the offseason.

The Rams look like they’re trying to claim “Worst Team in the NFL” this year but they’re getting tough competition from the Browns, Chiefs and Buccaneers.

The Cardinals are actually 4-2 after their impressive win over the Giants. Wonder how many people actually realize that. They’re suddenly the new favorite to win the Stinker Division (ie, NFC West).

JaMarcus Russell was benched probably 5 games late.

Other Observations

The Jay Cutler trade is starting to look a little one-sided right now. Consider that the Broncos got a 1st round and 3rd round pick in 2009 AND a 1st round pick in 2010 AND Kyle Orton in exchange for letting Cutler go!! Insane. Cutler has been erratic and not very impressive so far this year (he’s averaging almost 2 INT’s a game) and while he may get better with more talent around him in Chicago, there’s no doubt that Denver got a pretty sweet deal in getting rid of Cutler. Sort of funny that Orton has better numbers and has outplayed Cutler so far this year.

Why did the Dolphins call for a play action play on 4th and 13 with 2 minutes left in the game? Bizarre call. Just go back and throw it. Didn’t matter with the flag and intereception, but still…

There’s a lot of good RB’s in the NFL that you never seem to hear about, either due to that player being on a bad team (Frank Gore, Steven Jackson) or because teams are focusing more on the pass these days (Pierre Thomas).

Eli Manning has to be the most overrated QB in the NFL. He was coming out of college and continues to be in 2009. Against the Cardinals he continued to show why he’s just an average NFL QB when the Giants run game isn’t being dominant. The praise he gets from the media (Both Boomer Esiason and Trent Dilfer had him #3 in their top 10 list of QB’s so far this year) is a little ridiculous.

It’s still early but it looks like the playoff picture is already starting to come into focus just a little. In the AFC it’s a safe bet that the Pats, Colts and Broncos will be in the postseason. Not a lock but a pretty safe bet so far. Of those 3 the Broncos are the most likely to implode with their tough schedule and some question marks. With their talent level and easy schedule the rest of the way it’s a fairly safe bet that the Steelers will also get in. That leaves 5 teams (Jets, Bengals, Ravens, Texans and Chargers) vying for 2 spots. It should be interesting. Sorry, Jags fans, but I don’t see the Jags, even with a 3-3 record, getting in.

In the NFC it’s a pretty safe bet that the Saints, Cardinals and Vikings get in. Of those 3, the Cards are most likely to falter with some question marks here and there. That leaves 3 teams fighting it out for the NFC East (Giants, Cowboys and Ealges). That could get wild with the Giants showing some serious weaknesses of late. The two teams that don’t win that division will probably be battling it out with the Falcons and Packers for the two Wild Card spots. Of course the Packers could still win their division, especially if they win a huge game next week against the Vikes. I’d also include the 49ers in the mix but it just looks like they’re at least a year away at this point, maybe Alex Smith will make me change my tune, though.

ESPN Sunday Countdown
Thank God for Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter. Otherwise this show would be a snooze-fest. The duo do a very interesting story about what would’ve happened if Drew Brees ended up in Miami instead of New Orleans, which almost happened. Instead the Dolphins signed Daunte Culpepper (suckers!). I guess Bill Parcells would’ve ended up in Atlanta along with Miami’s coach and Pennington and Henne.

Tom Jackson and Keyshawn Johnson do a segment called “Unbeaten Idol” where they sit at a desk and a horrifying Madden videogame version of Drew Brees walks out…I couldn’t watch anymore…I had to turn the channel.

CBS NFL TodayCharlie “Hitman” Casserly talks about what a good deal the Jay Cutler contract extension was for both sides (yawn).

He then talks about Cedric Benson leaving the Bears and going to the Bengals (yawn).

Shannon Sharpe is holding up some sort of WWF belt during a segment. I turn the channel.

Boomer Esiason gives his top 10 QB’s so far this year according to his own criteria. It’s a complete joke. Eli Manning #3?? Did he watch last weeks game? Kyle Orton ahead of Tom Brady and Big Ben?? No Aaron Rodgers in the list?? Bill Cowher promptly rips his top ten list apart but still doesn’t do a good enough job as far as I’m concerned.

FOX NFL on FOX
I turn on the Fox Show and they’re talking about giving away Ford Taurus’. OK.

Jay “Poppin’ Fresh” Glazer is talking about Tom Cable getting out of a fine for popping someone on his coaching. I guess Cable could’ve been fined $25,000 for bumping into a ref in some game this year.

Michael Strahan is talking about the Giants losing to the Raiders (??), the camera pans out and Jimmy Johnson looks like he’s about to kiss Strahan. I don’t know what the hell is going on here. Alright, FOX, you win worst Pregame show on TV.

Just a note about our rankings, they are based on how well these teams are playing as opposed to overall record, unlike most power rankings. Now let’s get to it.

1. New Orleans Saints- THE GOOD – Pretty much everything at this point. The defense still gives up points, but the offense is still out running it. THE BAD – Still question marks about the defense and the effectiveness of this team playing in cold weather.

2. Indianapolis Colts- THE GOOD – Like the Saints, pretty much everything, although the defense has some issues as well. THE BAD – If Manning has a bad game this team will probably lose. That’s a lot riding on one player.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers – THE GOOD – Offense is ranked 3rd, defense 5th, that’s pretty damn good. Big Ben leads the league in passing yards. THE BAD – Running game is still suspect. Defense hasn’t been as dominant as last year.

4. Minnesota Vikings – THE GOOD- Team seems to be getting more confidence with each new win, Favre continues to play well. THE BAD – With the team ranked 13th in offense and 18th in defense in yards, there’s still question marks to how good this team really is.

5. Denver Broncos – THE GOOD – head coach Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Mike Nolan seem to be doing wonders for this team. The defensive line is playing lights out right now. THE BAD – The Broncos offense still doesn’t really scare anyone.

6. New York Giants – THE GOOD – The Giants still have a great running game. Defense is still great at attacking the QB. THE BAD – The Giants seem to really struggle when forced to play out of their comfort zone, ie, if they get in a shoot out with another team. If you take this team’s running game away they will probably lose.

7. New England Patriots – THE GOOD – The offense is starting to get better and better as well as the defense. THE BAD – Still question marks about the defense and running game.

8. Balitmore Ravens – THE GOOD – Joe Flacco continues to play really well at times, defense can still cause problems for teams. THE BAD – Defense is not nearly as good as it used to be (ranked 17th currently) with aging players and the loss of former defensive coordinator Rex Ryan to the Jets. Injuries have hurt this team.

9. Green Bay Packers – THE GOOD – Aaron Rodgers continues to play great, O-line is playing better, defense is improving each week (ranked 8th currently) – THE BAD – O-line needs to continue to improve, still some question marks there. Same goes for the run defense.

10. Atlanta Falcons – THE GOOD – Offense is playing very well at times, Matt Ryan is playing at a high level. Defense is keeping teams out of the endzone. THE BAD – While the defense is keeping teams out of the endzone right now, it is giving up a lot of yards which could be a very bad sign for the future.

Jeff Fisher might be coaching another team in a couple years. Too bad for the Titans.

Apparently the Pats think they’re playing Division I football and running up the score will get them placed higher in the Top 25. I don’t care if the Titans did give up in that game, going for it on fourth down in the second half is ridiculous. The Pats still have some problems but this game could be a warning to the rest of the league.

Eli Manning is not anywhere close to being an elite NFL QB without the help of a dominating running attack.

The Jets continue to show they may be in trouble the rest of the year with Mark Sanchez struggling as a rookie QB (as predicted on here weeks back).

The Steelers quietly have one of the most explosive offenses in the league.

The Ravens defense isn’t nearly as good as it used to be.

There’s some talent on the Raiders defense.

Norv Turner is outcoached for the 100th straight time in his career. San Diego may not make the playoffs. Turner should go back to being an offensive coordinator.

Ron Rivera may have been part of a great Bears defense as a linebacker in the 80’s, but he’s not doing a very good job with San Diego’s defense as defensive coordinator.

Seattle is probably not making the playoffs this year.

Kyle Orton is playing better and better each week for the Broncos.

Other observations –

With the NFL making more and more rule changes favoring offenses, we’re seeing a lot of 300 yard passing games from QB’s along with high completion percentages. There were 8 QB’s with over 300 yards of passing in Week 6. Along with that there were 5 or 6 other QB’s with numbers close to that. I honestly miss the days of seeing QB’s actually earn those numbers as opposed to being handed it by defenses not being allowed to play actual defense. I’m sure others, especially those that play Fantasy Football, would disagree.

It seems like the days of dominating defenses are coming to an end. There’s only so much defenses can do when they are being handcuffed by new rules and refs all too willing to throw the yellow flag on any kind of contact on passing situations.

The Seahawks are suddenly looking like favorites to win the Stinker Division…Not really, but anything is possible at this point.

The party’s over in Tennessee, you can officially turn out the lights on this season. Wow.

Miami suddenly looks very much alive for a playoff spot.

Dolphins new starter at QB, Chad Henne, looks like a good fit. Pennington may not have a starting spot when he returns.

The Jets are starting to show some holes.

Tampa Bay might have the worst secondary in the league. Oh how times have changed.

Other Observations –

I’ve noticed some sports writers saying there’s less parity in the NFL than there has been in a long time because of all the undefeated teams right now in the NFL. I say, hold on right there. Most of the undefeated teams like the Colts, Broncos, Vikings and even the Giants could all very easily have at least 1 loss.

Looking closer at it, the Colts could easily have 2 losses with close games against the Jaguars (14-12) and Dolphins (27-23).

The Vikings would’ve lost to the 49ers at home if it weren’t for a hail mary TD pass from Favre with no time remaining in the game.

The Giants would’ve and should’ve lost to the Cowboys but Tony Romo self-destructed with 3 very costly interceptions.

If not for an 87 yard TD pass with 28 seconds left the Broncos would’ve lost in Week 1 to the Bengals. The Broncos also trailed both the Cowboys and New England by 10 points at home before somehow managing to come back to win those games.

With the exception of the Saints and Giants, more often than not these teams haven’t looked consistently great in any of their games. That’s not to say that the teams and fans shouldn’t be excited about their teams, but looking at it from an outsider’s perspective there seems to be more luck involved than less parity. It’s a long season and based on the actual on field performances of some of these teams I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of them struggle to make the playoffs when all is said and done.
A Quick Power Ranking for Week 6
1. New Orleans Saints
2. New York Giants
3. Indianapolis Colts
4. Minnesota Vikings
5. Pittsburgh Steelers
6. Baltimore Ravens
7. Denver Broncos
8. New England Patriots
9. Cincinnati Bengals
10. Atlanta Falcons

1. New Orleans Saints – THE GOOD A legitimately improved defense and running game to compliment one of the best passing attacks in the NFL makes the Saints look like the most complete team as of now. THE BAD The defense still needs to prove it each week, though.

2. Baltimore Ravens – THE GOOD Even with this week’s loss, the Ravens don’t really have too many holes and honestly looked like a better team than the Patriots. Some very bad calls in the Pats favor definitely effected the outcome. Sorry Pats fans, but it’s true. THE BAD The only weaknesses so far are an aging WR corps and a questionable to this point in this season secondary.

3. New York Giants – Giants look tough across the board and can play smashmouth football which makes them a rare breed in today’s NFL and should give them staying power as the season goes on. THE BAD They would be 3-1 if not for Tony Romo completely choking in Dallas a couple weeks ago. If you can shut down the Giants running game and make them one dimensional, Eli generally becomes an average NFL QB.

4. Indianapolis Colts – THE GOOD –Peyton Manning is having a fantastic season, the WR corps are making some great catches, the defense at times looks tough and tenacious. THE BAD – The defense at times looks very weak against the run (see Miami Dolphins game). This team could easily be 2-2 instead of 4-0 with close wins against the Jags (14-12) and Miami 27-23. Running game is non-existent and team might rely on Manning a little too much.

5. Minnesota Vikings – THE GOOD They can run the ball as well as just about anyone and they might have the best pass rushing D-line in the NFL, Favre has become a good game manager. O-line is great. THE BAD Vikes would be 3-1 if not for a last second miracle TD pass against the 49ers. Does anyone honesty think Favre will play as well as he did on Monday night for the rest of the season? Especially late in the season? The Vikings D-line won’t be playing the Packers O-line every game this season.

6. Pittsburgh Steelers – THE GOOD – If this team played as aggressively against Chicago and Cincinnati as they did against San Diego, the Steelers would easily be 4-0. That’s the good and bad news for Steeler fans in a nutshell, if this team plays aggressively on offense and defense for all 4 quarters they can and probably will beat anyone in the league, but the question is will they? Big Ben is quietly having his best season as a QB, he’s on pace for over 4,000 yards passing, O-line is playing great, offense has a lot of weapons, defense has been really good in the 1st 3 quarters of games, but… THE BAD – Defense tends to go into a prevent style D in the 4th quarter, allowing teams to get back into the game. LB’s James Harrison and Lamar Woodley, the Steelers sack duo from last season has been largely absent in that department thus far this year. The running game has been suspect thus far.

7. New England Patriots – THE GOOD – Belichick is still a great coach, the refs seem to be on their side, Tom Brady is still the QB and is having a good start so far. The offense can put up points when needed. Defense seems to be improving THE BAD – Defense still looks weak a lot of the time, the O-line still looks very shaky. Run game is non-existent.

8. New York Jets – THE GOOD – Mark Sanchez is having a solid year so far for a rookie QB and the players seem to have responded well to new head coach Rex Ryan. The defense is much improved from last year. O-line is looking good. THE BAD – Sanchez is still a rookie QB and has already started to struggle at times, which may be a bad sign of things to come.

9. Denver Broncos – THE GOOD – The defense looks mightily improved from last year, Kyle Orton is having a solid season so far and seems to be a good fit for Josh McDaniel’s new offensive system. THE BAD – The offense doesn’t scare anyone and hasn’t been that impressive thus far. Is the defense the real deal? The Broncos will be tested in the coming weeks with a tougher schedule.

10. San Francisco 49ers – THE GOOD – Defense looks like the real deal, giving up only 13 points a game so far, almost shades of the ’85 Bears but let’s not get crazy. Shaun Hill has been decent at QB. Team should be 4-0 if not for a miracle TD pass by Favre in the Vikings game. THE BAD – The offense doesn’t look too good, with the recent signing of Michael Crabtree things could improve. Division is weak, which puts doubts into how well they will ultimately stack up with the rest of the NFC teams. All 3 wins are against divisional rivals in what has to be the worst division in football.

The Glorious Bottom 5

5. Carolina Panthers – THE GOOD – Panthers have some good players on this team, but where are they and what are they doing? Jake Delhomme is off to a horrible start. THE BAD – Bad QB play, struggling defense, players already look like they’ve quit on head coach John Fox.

4. Kansas City Chiefs – THE GOOD – Not much to be honest, there are some young potentially good players on the team. Even with a winless record, the team’s fundamentals seem to be better than when Herm Edwards was head coach. THE BAD – Defense looks real bad at times. Offense is not much better.

3. Cleveland Browns – THE GOOD –Derrick Anderson looks like an improvement at QB over Brady Quinn. Team almost got a win against the Bengals. Team unloaded Braylon Edwards, ie, taking out the trash. THE BAD – Team looks like it already has quit on new coach Eric Mangini, Defense is stinky.

2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – THE GOOD – The youth movement on defense only means they’ll get better. Run blocking looks good, running game is solid. THE BAD – Defense is giving up way too many points, too mistake-prone on both sides of the ball.

1. St. Louis Rams – THE GOOD – Very little, very few brightspots. O-line is full of early round draft picks and should get better, LB corps is decent. Steven Jackson is a great running back. THEBAD – QB’s are running for their lives, RB Steven Jackson faces 8 and 9 man fronts on virtually every down which might reduce the length of his career if that continues. Unknown WR’s, no depth, pretty bad defense.

If the Texans defense improves it’s play, they could sneak into the playoffs this year.

The Titans are this year’s surprise team, but not in a good way.

The 49ers are the clear cut favorites at this point to win the Stinker Division.

Dick Jauron is probably going to be on the hotseat in a couple weeks.

St. Louis is the worst team in the NFL, now that the Browns almost won a game.

The Buccaneers are bad, but not as bad the Rams.

The Bengals are 3-1and improved but still not that impressive.

Jim Mora, Jr. might not have been the best choice as head coach for the Seahawks.

The Seahawks have the most boring offense in the NFL.

Peyton Manning is having an incredible year so far.

The Colts might rely on Manning just a little too much.

The Chargers aren’t a very impressive team.

The Steelers seem incapable of winning comfortably even when outgaining their opponents 2-1 in yards and leading in the 2nd half, 28-0. Maybe they like to keep things exciting for the fans for all 4 quarters.

Games in Depth

Baltimore 21 vs. New England 27 – This game could’ve gone either way. At times it looked like the Patriots defense simply didn’t have an answer for the Ravens offense. Strangely, the Ravens didn’t run the ball much but should have(Ray Rice had 11 carries for 103 yards!). Tom Brady progressively played better as the game went on. The officiating in this game was simply horrible and the Pats benefitted from mostly bad one-sided calls throughout. The Ravens receivers are starting to show their age, Derrick Mason and Mark Clayton dropped passes deep in Pats territory on their last drive that resulted in a change of possession and the end of the game. It’s evident that both team’s defenses have some serious weaknesses (Pats against the run, the Ravens against the pass). Joe Flacco is the real deal, he had a few great passes in this game, including the sweet TD pass to Mason on a third and goal from around the 15 yard line.

New York Jets 10 vs. New Orleans 24 – The final score was not indicative of how close this game was. One of the more entertaining games of the year so far. The Saints defense looks like the real deal under new defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams. In fact, they look like a completely different defense than last year, aggressive, smart, fast. Free safety Darren Sharper looks like a great FA pick up and was huge in this game, returning a bad Mark Sanchez pass back for a TD. As I predicted last week, Sanchez struggled in this game and Jets fans, that trend could continue as the season goes on and more teams have game film of him. Rex Ryan’s prediction of a Jets Super Bowl appearance this year might be a year or two premature. The good news for the Jets is they did a pretty decent job on the Saints offense for most of the game. Saints running back Pierre Thomas is the real deal and is looking like one of the best RB’s in the league right now.

Dallas 10, vs. Denver 17 – Denver is 4-0 and that’s a shocker, even with their relatively easy schedule. The Cowboys talented defense played sloppily and undisciplined throughout this game. The Brandon Marshall TD pass and run should be an embarrassment to all involved in Cowboys country. The Broncos defense looks more and more impressive under ex-49ers coach, Mike Nolan. The Cowboys receivers had a hard time getting separation from an aggressive Broncos secondary. QB Tony Romo progressively played worse and worse as this game went on, throwing passes behind, in front, and high of his receivers. He laid out WR Roy Williams over the middle with an over throw, resulting in Williams leaving the game with an injury. This whole game reeked of a poorly coached game by Cowboys head coach Wade Philips.